Gamboa

BACKGROUND

Gamboa received chiropractic treatment from Dr. Arman at The Joint Chiropractic on January 4, 2022. Prior to undergoing treatment, Gamboa filled out a patient history form, indicating intermittent pain on the left side of her neck, back, and shoulder. Gamboa also signed an informed consent form that warned her of the various risks of chiropractic treatment, including “the possibility of sprains, dislocations and fractures,” and more specifically, “rib fractures or muscle and ligament strains or sprains as a result of manual therapy techniques.”

1 Dr. Arman documented the chiropractic session, noting that she manually palpated Gamboa’s spine and found “[m]ildly taut and tender fibers” at several vertebral segments, as well as misalignments at three segments. Dr. Arman then conducted a manual adjustment, noting that Gamboa “stated an increase in soreness in the anterior right rib cage” during the thoracic spine adjustment. Gamboa described the adjustment as a “violent extreme application of force on the lower back” that resulted in “excruciating pain and a seemingly cracking sound on [her] ribs,” causing her to cry out “Lord have mercy!” At that point Dr. Arman stopped…